Golden Fleece Award

WASHINGTON, D.C.  — Rep. French Hill (AR-02) on Tuesday announced the Small Business Administration’s Office of Investment and Innovation as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award due to the misuse of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding by repeat recipients, commonly referred to as “SBIR mills.” The SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. French Hill (AR-02) announced Governor Tim Walz and his administration as the latest recipients of his Golden Fleece Award following the uncovering of massive fraud across taxpayer-funded programs in Minnesota. Federal prosecutors estimate that roughly $9 billion in taxpayer dollars was stolen through schemes involving nutrition assistance, Medicaid… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. French Hill (AR-02) announced Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for driving the nation into the longest and most expensive government shutdown in American history. The 41-day shutdown caused an estimated $7 to $14 billion in permanent economic losses, delayed $54 billion in federal… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named Amtrak as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for its persistent financial mismanagement and failure to meet its mandate as a self-sustaining passenger rail company. Since its creation in 1971, Amtrak has received more than $100 billion in federal subsidies yet has never once turned a profit. In fiscal year 2024… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for their inadequate operating practices for the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL). The VCL is the VA’s suicide prevention hotline for veterans. Unfortunately, recent reports have documented inadequate staffing, a lack of assessment… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) as the latest recipients of his Golden Fleece Award for their challenges in ensuring effective mental health screening for service members and veterans who are transitioning from military to civilian life. As a result of a 2018 executive order, the… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the U.S. Department of Commerce as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece. Thanks to their bureaucratic red tape, three years after Congress appropriated over $42 billion to bring the internet to rural America, exactly zero Americans have been connected to the internet through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD)… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the United States General Services Administration (GSA) as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for their inability to properly address decades-long problems associated with managing the federal government’s real property portfolio. Rep. Hill said, “The United States Government Accountability Office has included… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the United States Department of the Navy as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for their poor planning and lack of oversight that allowed a $3.7 billion modernization of Navy vessels to dramatically underperform expectations. Rep. Hill said, “In 2012 and 2013, the Navy proposed retiring several cruisers due to budget… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the United States Department of Labor (DOL) as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for their uninvolved administration of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after a year of fumbled public communications and data releases.   Rep. Hill said, “This year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has botched the release of two… Read more »